DeLarla

Poopy Megan, that sounds awful! Could you share with us the kind of anti-nausea meds you have? Are they over-the-counter? I'm going to get some next time I'm at the store. That's frightening, and I'm really glad you feel better. xo

Hi Joanie, I'm glad I posted this, too. When is your surgery date? New Hope made a good point that many American patients end up losing their original surgeon for one reason or another. Those people might end up in Mexico, afterall, if they aren't able to find a local doctor that will take them on as patients. I said a lot of nasty things about some Mexican surgeons, but that was probably a mistake since Mexico might be our only option at one time or another. I'm just not the kinda gal that holds back when I have something to say. Some times you gotta have a big mouth to get heard. Most of the people getting Bands when I did were morbidly obese and chose Mexico for the price and the experience of the surgeons. There was only one person out of 6 that was turned down by the FDA, but she was only 13. Joan,

I blew up at work yesterday and yelled at a co-worker. This is the same girl, Erin, that I've complained about before because she sabotages my eating. I've had serious talks asking her not to tempt me with food or candy. No matter what I say, she still brings me food, talks about food, invites me to eat, etc. Yesterday she marched in my office to announce a platter of cookies, and I lost it and started yelling. She turned beat red and stormed away. I felt bad so I apologized. She was humiliated because I yelled loud enough for everyone to hear, "FROM NOW ON I'M FINING YOU A QUARTER FOR EVERY SINGLE REFERENCE YOU MAKE TO FOOD IN MY OFFICE!" She finally "got it" and apologized and promised never to tempt me again. But it didn't last because 10:00 this morning she asked if I wanted Panda Express (one of my favorite binge places.) The word, "yes" started to come out of my mouth as my mind instantly imagined all the yummy, greasy dishes that I love, but somehow "no" came out, and I hung up. She doesn't have a clue how furious I am. So I meditated and decided to try one last thing, which is to ignore her completely. I'm her usual lunch buddy, but for now on she can sit alone every single day, which she'll hate. Hell, I'll even close my door to really burn her. She knows everything about my surgeries, my struggles, and my addictions. What's wrong with people? Maybe I'll bring a keg of beer to an AA meeting tonight and see if anyone wants a pitcher.

Does anybody else break out in fever and bad chills the night after surgery? This has happened after every surgery I've ever had. Not just the Band related ones, but any time I've gone through semi-major procedures. Last week, after port removal, I had a bad run of the shakes that were so violent I thought I might go into seizure. It only lasted a minute or so, but my chest gets to shaking so bad with chills that I wonder if anyone else did this. I always seem to sweat it out when I sleep that night and am better by morning, but when I get up to go potty in the middle of the night I have another episode - just can't get warm.

I wouldn't have been able to get a band in Vegas. It's $28,000 here, and my insurance wouldn't cover it. I was able to get a loan for $7,500 though, which is what I paid in Mexico. We go there because it's the only way some of us can afford it. I have had a lot of complications that could have been avoided if I had the orginal surgery here, but the bottom line is that Mexico was my only option.

I just got home from a superbowl party (I snuck out early) and had some rather interesting conversations with other guests. Debra is a 50 year old woman that makes 40 year olds look bad! Slender, blond & blue and amazing skin, and very kind. She was so interested in the LapBand that we talked for an hour. She said she often forgets to eat for 2 days and she only eats to survive. But she is very close to her mom & sister, who are both obese. Her mom and sister are addicted to junk food, and she has zero interest in it. I know a lot of slender people, but most of them make good food choices and always resist temptation to keep their figures, then there's Debra who could care less if she ever ate again. She's got the anti-addiction! I should have plucked one of her hairs and had it cloned and implanted into my head!

That was funny! My husband is clueless and can never seem to do the right thing. He'll offer me food on days I have strong willpower, so I get mad at him. But when I have PMS and I'm willing to eat glue, he won't let me near the kitchen. At least he's trying!

Labuttr, a PB is kind of hard to explain until you actually have one. I had a band for several months without a PB, so I thought something was wrong with me. Then out of the blue, I had my first one, and it was awful. We probably all have different ways of describing it, but for me it starts somewhere between my throat and chest, as if you try to swallow something but it won't go downt. It's not like choking though, but like a painful pressure in your chest. When you first feel it, you have to stop eating. I always have a hard time catching my breath, and I keep gulping hoping the thing will pass. I think it's because the food gets trapped in the esophagus. Sometimes, the lump will finally pass, but other times you suddenly spit up thick slime. I usually spit up thick slime a couple times, then on the third kind of hurl the offending stuck food will come back up with the slime. I have always had warning signs, but some people don't get warnings. I can personally avoid all PB's by taking small bites, chewing very slow, and stopping when I'm full. All my PBs have happened after gulping something too big and too fast. It's not a good idea to let yourself get too hungry with the band, and all my PB episodes have been when I let myself get too hungry then try to make up for lost time by wolfing some food.

Darcy, you are brilliant. food saved me. Geeze, it could have been drugs or booze (yes, I abused both of them as well, but now it's just food.) To think of all the money I spent in therapy, yet not one of them said what you said. Send me the bill. Rachel, girl, you are not alone at all! Tons of us faced the same fears. It's hard to explain, but the band does help. Right after surgery you'll be too sick to eat for a day or so, plus your doctors will most likely put you on liquids for a week. Then you'll introduce thick Soups and mushie foods, but in the beginning, you'll be too afraid to eat, so you will do everything so gently. You'll eat slow, take baby bites, chew. By then you'll have lost a few pounds, which will motivate you to follow Band rules. Keep in mind that generally speaking, most people lose 1/2 of the weight they want to lose, and then they plateau. Me and Darcy are perfect examples, we both lost a good amount of weight with the Band. But after you lose 1/2 of the extra weight, that's when we really have to fight the addiction and bad eating. I'm very happy with my weight loss, but if I want the rest to go away, I'll have to work harder at saying "no" to goodies. The world's top Band surgeons can not or will not ever understand addiction (to food) the way we do. Well, except those top surgeons who have Bands themselves. I can't say I understand what it's like to have AIDS or Cancer, because I don't have either (knocking on a lot of wood.) You have to be in our shoes to understand.

Ladybird, this - "I know i should have shown greater control over my eating" is something we all feel, but take a look around! Nobody here can control their eating, which is why we all have bands. Your ex was wrong, and I admire you for having the sense to tell him to get lost. I have a similar problem at home, but my husband doesn't intentionally try to sabotage me. He cooks too much (and too good) and he likes when I endulge with him, but when I get serious enough he stops. He admits that he likes having an eating partner, but he's also not a fat admirer. Sometimes I think life would be so simple if I would have married a fat-admirer - just sit there and eat and be adored! He loved me fat, but he thinks it's really cool that I'm losing weight. I still weigh over 200 pounds but he calls me his Skinny Wife! People that sabotage are jealous and spiteful and not the kind of people I need around me.

I really appreciate everyone's response on this thread. I agree, nobody will ever change Erin. She lives in severe denial. She constanly tells me she eats so much during the day because she doesn't eat dinner, yet then she talks about what she cooked for dinner and brings in leftovers. I "grounded" her (refused to talk to her about anything that wasn't work-related) for the past couple weeks, so she didn't torture me with food. But then I started being nice again, so she instantly announced the new menu item at the corner buffet. If she gets out of hand, I will have to follow out my threat of keeping my office door closed with a NO FOOD sign on the door. It will horrify her, since the whole office will know she caused it, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

Miss Donali, no, I did not understand it cuz when I see numbers my brain freaks out and shuts down, so thanks for 'splainin. I particulary relate to "feeling full after 2 lbs of broccoli but not satisfied till you add some fat." Hell yeah! Darci, it's not just food addictions that trouble me. I'm addicted to bad food habits as well. Eating fast is a bad habit, eating between meals, etc. But my biggest bad habit is eating at night. I know where my problem began - it began as a small child seeking safety. I dodged several neighborhood bullies daily (or sometimes I wasn't so lucky) then came home to an empty house. I'd either steal money from the Momster or somehow find a hoard of food, then hide in a quiet place and eat. Soon my brother and sister would come home for daily torture. One would beat me up, the other would defend me. The next day they switched, but in the end we were a junk food binge team. Big sis would set out the plan and we'd follow her orders; we would "cover" while she slipped boxes of ice cream in Mom's huge underwear that she'd wear. We'd pig out, then throw the garbage down the street. Survival instincts are a marvelous tool that allow children to use their imagination to the fullest! My sister was brilliant to think of those big underwear! This was my entire childhood. To me, it was normal. But the problem is that as soon as I got away from home, the behavior never ended. When I came home after work to my first apartment, I would close the curtains and eat in safety. Eventually I noticed this was an abnormal and unhealthy cycle, so I began trying to break it eons ago. My attempts lead to anorexia, which eventually landed me in the hospital. So I started barfing. Chris is the one that stopped my bullemia. I thought I had him fooled, but one day early in our relationship he pulled me to the table by my ear. He said, "tonight you don't get any salad, you eat what I made you, and if you throw it up I'll never be back." Uht ohhh, he was on to me. He knew I was barfing the whole time, apparently lettuce floats. He'd been checking the toilet after dinner and always saw lettuce floating. So my addictions are real, and no matter how many days I'm able to stop eating after dinner, the urge will always be with me. Years ago I went to OA meetings religiously, and I was able to quit my night-eating for over a year. But the urges never go away, and something triggered me to take a nibble at night, which snowballed into 300 pounds. All I want is to break the night time cycle again - such a strong addiction. I have 2 clean days. Two glorious days that I haven't eaten a bite after dinner. Can we make it 3?

I just lost my new port. Dr. Billy took it from me. This just in: IF YOU HAVE A LEAKING, WEEPING WOUND THAT WON'T CLOSE, THIS IS A BAD THING. The surgery I had two weeks ago in Mexico has been undone. The "mystery fluid" that has been oozing out of me for 8 months was infected (this time cultures were done.) It wasn't rejection, it was infection. It baffles me that not one of the other docs I've seen since May were interested enough to do a culture. Disturbing. No matter how deep they clean an infected wound, some bacteria will stay behind. When Lopez passed the brand new port through the old wound, the new port became surrounded by infectious bacteria. Also, even though my port was placed away from the incision, he left part of the long tube laying across the infected area under the surface of the incision. Dr. Billy has identical cases, and a wound simply will not close when the tube has bacteria and is so close to the surface. Maybe I'm not explaining this exactly, but gimme a break cuz drugs have me, well, drugged. With the last surgery, Dr. Lopez said an endoscopy wasn't necessary at that moment, but he would watch my progress and do one down the road, either in a couple weeks or later depending on how I was doing. Let this be a lesson to all of us that we have to be aggressive in our own care because I'm sure if I tried harder, Lopez would have done the scope for me. The reason the scope was so important is that Dr. Billy found the beginnings of an ulcer in my stomach, and we have all heard that ulcers can lead to erosion. So, if I kept waiting for time to pass, the ulcer could have gotten much bigger. Billy was fab, I mean it. He reinforced the importance of not taking NSAIDs, which can cause ulcers, and he prescribed 6 months of Pepcid to hopefully cure the ulcer-looking-thing. It's not a true ulcer yet, but it's the beginning, and only the Angels know how long before it became a monster. Penni is just now telling me that Billy also found some plastic sutures that were left inside me, but he didn't know why they were still in there. Yes, Billy is all they say he is and much much more. He spent all morning with me, sitting by my side with Penni answering so many questions and counseling us both on getting back to Band basics... he even gave us homework that we are not looking forward to doing. However, he is right, that if we want our Bands to work, we have to work our Bands. To top it off, he threw in a laparoscopy (sp?) which meant he opened 2 of my old incisions plus made a tiny new one in my belly button to look inside my stomach with a camera. He covered me from all angles, and I made a complete ass out of myself upon awakening in the recovery room. According to Dr. Billy, I was hugging everyone in the room and I begged for asthma medicine, even though I'm not asthmatic. He had me and Penni in absolute stitches. Kind, caring, knowledgeable, experienced, and not too hard on the eyes, ahem! As far as Lopez goes, even Billy agrees he's an excellent surgeon. However, Mexico doesn't carry the same accountabily that US doctors are forced to face due to litigation proceedings. I still have a lot of respect for Lopez because he did what doctors do... he "practiced" medicine, and since there is no exact science, he followed his standards of practice. If you don't read anything else, please read this. I have an entire new outlook on getting surgery in Mexico. If you do not have a doctor lined up for aftercare, do NOT get a band in Mexico. Get your ducks in a row first. Don't rely on what people tell you, but instead call and speak directly to a local Band surgeon to ensure you are taken well care of throughout your entire journey. Peace.

All I can do is dream about the day that "underwear" doesn't include bra, panties and bandage. Mary just did my Saturday change and cut off even more excess bandage. She thinks it looks really good. Thanks, Betty!

I don't want to turn this into an Ortiz thread, but he has had his fair share of complications. I heard of a woman last night that had to stay in the hospital over a week after Band surgery and another that is horrified by his aftercare. Maybe some people are happy with him, but there are 2 sides to every story.

This is the best I can do for now - here's the wound all packed up. I'll try to remember to take a picture today.

This time I remembered the camera, but I forgot to take it out of my purse till the wound was packed. But here's Bloody Mary throrougly enjoying the grossness of my disgusting wound. This is a horrible pic of her though - right outta bed with no makeup and a new poodle-perm. She's my darling cutie pie. This is her bent-over my belly, just finishing up the packing.

Dr. Billy answered this question for me. He said it's because during surgery, I was on a ventilator that breathed for me. When they remove the ventilator, my lungs have to work on their own. But I never seem to breathe well after surgery. I tend to breathe shallow. They always give me the little machine to exercise my lungs, and I use it. But I need to use it more and take deep breaths both in and out to get my lungs working again. This time was even worse cuz it hurt my incision to breathe.

Wow, I learn something every day. Never had any shoulder pain, but I totally understand the horror of the chest pain and having to spit up. When I'm trying to have a bad PB, I walk in circles around my house like a crazy lady pounding my chest. Sometimes my husband stands in my way so I just shove him and keep walking. You would think he'd learn by now, but at least he knows the warning signs so he always runs and grabs me a handful of paper towels.

My Sony Cybershot 3.2 Mega Pixels (around $200.00) is the best investment I've ever made. I hate technology, but this thing is so easy to use. All the stuff I post here is from my Sony. Love it! Most important thing in my book is what Donali said - make sure it's at least a 3.1. Hurry up and buy it and start posting stuff.

Leatha, that makes sense. But what if the ulcer inside my stomach got so big that it made a hole to the outside? Or is that what Penni said? Heck, I'm on pain meds. What do I know? Another wound update... Bloody Mary (that's what I call my gross friend) just did my daily unpacking of the wound. When she re-packed it, this time she had to cut an inch off the gauze, which means the wound is closing and doesn't need as much packing. Had to leave work early cuz my belly is so sore. The wound feels fine, but all the lower bruising has me walking hunched over, ergo, OUCH.

Teresa, I've never heard of shoulder blade pain associated with a PB. Are you sure there's not something else going on? I always get clear warning signs. Sometimes my Band doesn't want me to eat, even though I haven't eaten all day. I get warnings almost immediately, even after a bite or two. food feels trapped somewhere between my throat or chest. I have to keep swallowing and gulping. My warning sign is to stop eating - if I take one more bite I'm in big trouble. Usually, if I've only had a few bites, this horrible feeling will pass after 5 minutes, then I can finish my meal slower I've been able to produce my own PB with just sucking in air and forcing out a deep belch from my throat (I've only done this when the pain was bad and I wanted the object out of me.) Kinda like animals who have the ability to intentionally regurgitate. Mine always happen as I'm eating. And always from swallowing too fast or swallowing too big of a chunk. I haven't had one in public, although I've had to stop eating at restaurants because I started my meal eating fast and got the horrible warning signs.

I can sum up an update on my most recent surgery with one word: O U C H

Brenda, again, you are one of the lucky ones. This thread is really just so people can get their ducks in a row before making a big decision. Even though Ortiz may be excellent, it's still really hard for some of us to get to Mexico at the drop of a Mexican hat! You are lucky since it's not a problem for you.

I don't agree that we should believe our own surgeon. I think we need to collect as much data as possible from all the surgeons, and then make our best choices. It seems pretty reasonable that we should avoid stomach irritants considering the size of our new pouch is so small. I obviously don't know enough about erosion to make opinions! But there are just too many opinions on the topic to listen to only one doctor. Better safe then sorry till more studies prove the theory either way.